


Paradox

by Angel_Negra



Category: Power Rangers R.P.M., Power Rangers Time Force
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-23 08:41:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/620205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Negra/pseuds/Angel_Negra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As if protecting the last human city on Earth wasn't enough, the RPM Rangers get enlisted by a team of time traveling Rangers to help save the future too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paradox

**Author's Note:**

> Originally came from a plot bunny that released [into the wild](http://dragovianknight.dreamwidth.org/91448.html). Thanks to Bats and Chris for the beta work. Written for Journeystory on DW.

Alex yanked the wheel hard, forcing the squad car into a squealing turn. Skidding around the corner, Alex pressed harder on the accelerator, eyes on the last of the ruins in front of him.

"Wall's coming up, Drake," said his partner, Peter, his voice tight.

"Immovable objects do that," growled Alex. He leaned forward slightly, glancing quickly at the timer counting down on the dash.

"Just saying, I like the idea of us not crashing."

Alex pressed on the accelerator again, but it wouldn't go any further. He swerved around a pile of debris, cursing at the precious seconds the evasion took.

"Alex..." Peter gripped the dash of the car.

Slamming on the brakes, Alex yanked at the wheel again, bringing them to a screeching halt. Practically tearing off his seatbelt, he launched himself from the car. "Come on, Walker, we can-"

"Down!" Peter dove through the car and tackled Alex to the ground. Alex felt a rush of hot wind blow over them half a second before he heard the boom of a time ship launcher echo through the ruins.

Peter swore and clambered up, absently gripping the front of Alex's uniform and picking him up off the ground with one hand. Alex staggered slightly when Peter let him go, but he shook it off and drew his blaster. "I thought we had more time," he grumbled.

"Clearly we're going to have to make sure our informants have working time pieces," Peter said drily, drawing his own blaster.

Alex didn't roll his eyes, but it was a near thing. "Are we splitting up?"

Peter snorted and said, "You really gotta start coming to horror movie night. Our back-up's at least half an hour behind us and we're about to go into a spooky, dark warehouse after criminals. No, we are not splitting up."

"Last time I went alone after criminals in a dark warehouse, I arrested Ransik," Alex reminded him as they approached the door to the building slowly.

"You also had a morpher," Peter said pointedly.

Alex shrugged a shoulder to concede the point and sidled up to the side of the doorway. He peered into the gloom and pulled back to nod to Peter. "Let's go."

The door led to the main room of the warehouse; the air smelt like burnt dust and Alex noticed a pair of very new looking doors set into the wall on the left. What remained of the wall on the right was jagged and scorched around the large hole cratered into it. Peter edged into Alex's peripheral and nodded ahead of them. There was a small doorway hidden in the shadows. Alex nodded back and they cautiously made their way forward.

Stepping into the doorway revealed a set of stairs and Alex found himself holding his breath as he and Peter crept up them. Intel said that there were only four fugitives and that all four planned to escape to the past, but then, intel had also said they had five minutes longer to stop the escape than reality had proven. Ahead of him, Peter peered through the doorway at the top of the stairs, then eased into the room.

"Clear!" he called.

Alex made his way in, lowering his blaster, but not holstering it. He gazed around the room; from the consoles resting against the walls and the large bay window, he figured this was the control room. He stopped beside Peter and they both eyed the bay window contemplatively.

"They took the time to camouflage it on the other side," said Peter thoughtfully.

"And they bought new bay doors," Alex said, remembering how nice the doors had looked when they came in.

Peter nodded, walking over to one of the consoles. "That makes more sense though. You can't just use a giant rubber band to slingshot your way into the past. You need stuff that works. But why go to this much trouble to hide it? It was a one shot deal, right? Steal the morphers, escape to the past, and change the timeline."

Alex holstered his blaster, slowly pacing the control room. He always thought better when he was moving. "It is a one shot deal. Four fugitives only."

"So why go to this much effort to hide it?" Peter pressed a series of buttons and down below the bay doors squealed open and a time ship launcher rolled out onto the warehouse floor. "Between the time travel waves and all the shiny stuff hanging around, we were going to know what was here any ways."

Something caught on Alex's toe and skittered off into the corner. Alex paused in his pacing and bent over to pick it up. It was an intro card. He thumbed the activation button and a small holo of an older Black woman flickered to life.

"Senator Felicity Marks," said the hologram. "And I will fight for your rights as a mutant." The hologram flickered out.

"Maybe it wasn't to the room from us," Alex said as Peter came over to peer at the intro card. "Maybe it was to keep the fugitives from knowing who was pushing the buttons."

Peter nodded slowly. "So we've got a high ranking senator's intro card, four new morphers missing, and a crime that took super strength, high tech skills and expert flying abilities to pull off," he summed up.

"And mutant informants with faulty information," added Alex. He sighed heavily and pocketed the intro card. "Captain Logan is going to explode about this."

A wail of sirens started growing steadily louder as their back-up finally caught up to them. "The scene's going to be cleaner than the courthouse bathrooms, isn't it?" grumbled Peter, starting for the door. "We're going to have CSI's pouting at us for the rest of this case."

Alex snorted. "You can drive us to all our leads," he said, clapping Peter on the shoulder. "That'll take us a couple of days right there."

"There is nothing wrong with my driving, Drake," said Peter, giving him a dirty look. Alex could see Peter trying to suppress a smile though.

"You drive slower than an iceberg, Walker," he said, leading the way down the stairs. "Now come on, let's get the scene secured. I need to call some very specific people for help."

*

Eric watched Wes re-read the flight instructions for the time ship again and resisted the urge to just take the book and do it himself. Instead he rechecked the cases holding their supplies and weapons. "Miller and Taylor will handle the Guardians just fine," he said, as much to reassure himself as just to break the silence.

Wes snorted and put the book away. "You always worry too much," he said fondly, settling into the pilot seat.

"Right, because the two of us flying off in a ship that's about a thousand years ahead of our technology, flying it ourselves, is nothing to worry about," said Eric sarcastically. "And the whole need for radio silence is reassuring. And that we're going to the future where Skynet takes over."

"Venjix," corrected Wes, "not Skynet."

Eric gave him a dirty look on principle for that. Wes just grinned, buckling the safety harness on. Sighing, Eric paused on his way to his own seat to kiss Wes briefly on the lips. Wes gently ran his fingers down Eric's cheek when it was over and then Eric sat down, shrugging his own harness on. "All right," he grumbled. "Let's go."

"Yes, dear," said Wes, sparing a second to smirk at him before turning on the engines.

The ship shuddered slightly at it rose into the sky and sailed towards the opening time hole. Eric found himself gripping the edge of the console. The light outside the window spun away into a stomach-churning mess of twisting colours. Eric's eyes hurt when he tried to make sense of them, so instead he focused on the bright red numbers slowly counting up the years as they flew by.

There was a sharp beep when they hit the right year and Wes swore as he worked the controls to slow the ship down. A heavy shudder shook the ship as they dropped out of the time hole. Eric glanced out the window and swore himself. "Too fast!"

"I know! I kno-" The rest of Wes' words were drowned out by the ship hitting the ground hard and Eric's vision went black.

Eric woke up with a gasp and looked around in confusion. They were still on time ship, but there were panels that were sparking and it gave Eric an ominous feeling. The cabin was in complete disarray and Wes was slumped onto the console, still out cold. Swearing, Eric struggled out of his safety harness and stumbled over to Wes.

He bent close, checking for a pulse and as soon as he felt it, his own heart started beating again. "Wes!" he said, shaking Wes' shoulder. Wes groaned, screwing up his face in irritation. "No," said Eric firmly. "We need to get out of here." As if to support him, an alarm started beeping steadily. "Fuck. Now, Collins."

Wes opened his eyes and sat up slowly, blinking in disorientation. Then his eyes settled on a flashing message on the console beside them and he froze for a second before fighting to get his harness off. "Yeah, now," he said. "Grab the supplies."

Eric spun and grabbed the food and weapons cases. "You're okay to move?" he asked, praying for a yes.

"Yeah, just a bit dizzy," said Wes as he staggered over to the doors, keying them open. They froze at the halfway point and Wes swore softly, grabbing the cases Eric handed to him and squeezed out the doors sideways. Eric right behind him with the last two cases.

Eric didn't have a chance to take in their surroundings beyond that they were in a large desert. Wes led the way and suddenly yelped as he dropped from view. "Wes!" Eric sped up and nearly fell head over heels down the edge of the sand dune. He flung his weight back and managed to slide down to Wes. Wes was laying on his back, looking a bit dazed, but otherwise fine. "Are you sure you're not made of rubber?" Eric asked, giving himself a moment to press against Wes' side before pulling the medical case over and opening it up.

"Is that why you dumped me off the TF Eagle?" said Wes mildly, his lips turning up in a small grin.

Eric snorted and was about to retort when there was a large explosion back where they'd come from. Eric yelped and rolled over Wes to shield him. Wes grabbed the open case and turned it upside down over Eric's head. There were some small thumps from raining debris. Eric gave Wes an incredulous look and opened his mouth.

Wes rolled his eyes. "This doesn't mean you get to fly home," he said.

"That's not what I was going to say," said Eric, shaking his head, because really. At Wes' expectant look, Eric met it with a pointed one. "I was gonna say that this wouldn't have happened if we'd taken the Q-Rex like I'd wanted to."

Laughing, Wes lowers the case and shoves Eric off of him. Eric goes easily, grabbing the spilled supplies and tossing it all back into the open case. "I'm still a bit dizzy," Wes volunteered as he sat up. Eric picked up the portable scanner and ran it over Wes' head before checking the results. Wes nudged him. "And how are you feeling?" he asked pointedly.

"You've got a mild concussion," said Eric as he clicked through the results to find the recommended treatment. He glanced around to find where the pill box had fallen and kept ignoring Wes' annoyed look. Lately, Wes was trying to lead by example; Eric had a habit of brushing off injuries, so Wes was making a point of listing all of his. Even the paper-cuts.

Wes obediently swallowed the pills Eric handed him and then pulled the weapons case over. He took out the scanner glasses, handing Eric his pair absently while sliding his own on. Eric finished packing up the medical case and then took the food case and slotted them together, pulling out the straps to turn it into a backpack. He shrugged it on and put his glasses on while Wes put the weapons and clothing backpack on.

A shadow fell over them and Eric spun, Wes shifting to his side. Two Power Rangers were standing there. "That was a big boom, but-" said the Gold one.

"-You sure don't look like Attackbots," finished the Silver one, tilting her head to the side. "Or even-"

"-Refugees," finished Gold.

"And we didn't even have to scan for them," muttered Eric, eyeing the Rangers warily.

Wes smiled at the Rangers. "Hi," he said. "We're here to save the time line, and we need your help."

*

Summer ducked a blow from a Grinder and kicked it in the stomach, sending it flying backwards. Scott moved so they were back to back. She glanced around quickly. Ziggy and Dillon were still trapped in the giant rings the Attackbot had thrown at them, while Flynn was still struggling to get out of the giant pile of cotton candy.

"This doesn't look good," she said to Scott.

"Dr K," said Scott. "Any word on Gem and Gemma?"

"Negative, Ranger Series Red," she said. "You're on your own."

"Great," Scott muttered. He pulled out his Nitro blaster and inserted the engine cell.

Summer saw something flash out of the corner of her eye. "Look out!" She pushed him, moving them both out of the way as several rings flew by and exploded behind them. The Attackbot let out a mechanical chittering and held up a cone of cotton candy. Summer tensed, reaching for her Nitro blaster.

"Neutron Defender!"

Several bolts of pink energy blasted the Attackbot back, knocking it off its feet as several masks on it's face blew up. Summer looked up to see a strange Pink Ranger aiming a crossbow at the Attackbot. The Attackbot chittered angrily and charged at her. The Ranger glanced over her shoulder, raised a hand and snapped her fingers.

"Plasma Defender!"

A Blue Ranger appeared from out of nowhere and smashed his staff into the Attackbot's masks, sending it spinning to the side. "Is that all you got?" laughed the Ranger.

"Fusion Defender!"

A Yellow Ranger charged towards Ziggy and Dillon and raised her sais. She sliced them through the rings and the guys staggered free. Ziggy almost fell, but Dillon caught his arm quickly, hauling him upright.

"Gravity Defender!"

A Green Ranger slashed his axe through the cotton candy pinning Flynn and hauled him out of it. "They don't teach you kids how to dodge, do they?" he asked Flynn.

The Pink Ranger snapped her fingers again and the other three immediately pointed their weapons at the Attackbot. "Go," she said.

Green moved first, rolling low and rising with a swing of his axe. The blow shattered the remaining masks on the Attackbot's right side. The Attackbot staggered back, but Yellow was there before it could recover. She slashed rapidly with her sais, creating sparks and mini-explosions. Blue tripped it with his staff, then picked it up with one hand and slammed it into the ground.

The Attackbot flailed its limbs, trying to get up. Pink walked up casually and pressed a button on her morpher. She aimed the crossbow at the Attackbot and fired. All four of them turned their backs as it blew up.

Summer held her breath, waiting for it to suddenly grow to giant size. After a few minutes of nothing happening she blinked and glanced uncertainly at the rest of her team.

"Huh," said Ziggy, tapping at his chin. "You know, usually when we do that? It likes to get really big and try to squash us."

"Clearly," said Yellow dryly, "you're doing it wrong."

"Thanks for the help?" said Scott flatly, holstering his blaster.

"You needed it," said Blue with a snicker. He tossed them a sloppy salute.

Summer glanced over to check on Dillon. His fists were clenched and he looked ready to pick a fight with these new Rangers. She slowly slipped over and laid a hand on his arm. Ziggy bumped his shoulder against Dillon's, making sure to stand slightly in front of him.

"We're the Power Rangers RP-"

"We know, we're the Time Rangers," said Pink, holding up a hand. "And that's why we're here. Take us to your base. There's much we need to discuss."

"Do we have to?" muttered Ziggy quietly.

Pink focused on him. "You do if you want to save the future."

They won't bring the new Rangers back to base. At least, not right away. Dr. K had instructions for them as soon as they told her about the latest development. "You're to take them to a warehouse I have set up for this type of event. I'm sending you the coordinates now. Once there, you're to run them through the scans I have set up. If they pass those, you can proceed home to base, but be aware that we shall be on full alert."

Ziggy shook his head. "Is there anything you're not prepared for?" he asked.

"Well, Ranger Series Green, I have as yet been unable to anticipate and neutralize your attempts at humour."

"Funny," he said dryly, tapping his mic off.

"Okay," said Scott, looking around at the rest of his team. "Let's get this over quickly." He turned to the new Rangers. "Look, no offence to you, but we need to know that we can trust you, or at least, know that you're not secret agents for Venjix."

Pink cocked her head and crossed her arms. "Let me guess, scans to make sure we're really Power Rangers?"

"Pretty much," said Flynn. "If you'll come with us?"

The trip was an awkward one. Summer was glad that the new Rangers had bikes of their own. She really didn't want to leave Dillon alone with one of them, even with Ziggy riding shotgun. And she knew that none of the others would want one of the others riding on the back of her bike. They pull up to the warehouse after what feels like an eternity of civilian stares and terse radio silence.

Summer's information screens lit up once they entered the warehouse. "We just need you four to walk through this archway," she said, gesturing to the only piece of visible equipment in the gloomy, echoing room.

Green snorted derisively. Pink sighed and led the way, the other three filling in behind her. As each one passed through the archway, it hummed gently, but there was no other indication that anything happened. Ziggy leaned in close to Summer and whispered, "Are you sure it's on?"

Summer poked him in the side lightly with her elbow. "I know how to read Dr K's instructions, Ziggy."

"Very well, Rangers," came Dr K's voice over the comms. "Return to base and bring the new Rangers with you."

Scott straightened his stance and walked up to the other Rangers. "Okay, and now we head to base and you tell us how we can save the future."

Pink gave a short, sharp nod. "Let's go."

The ride to the garage was no less tense, but it was at least faster. Once everyone was gathered on the main floor, Scott nodded to his team. "Power Down," he said and as one, they deactivated their morphs. Scott turned to the new Rangers. "I suppose I don't have to worry about introducing the team," he said, crossing his arms. Dillon causally eased in front of Summer, with Flynn doing the same for Ziggy.

Pink snorted. "No, you don't have to worry about that." She paused and Summer waited for Pink to give the signal for her team to de-morph. Pink just crossed her arms.

Scott took a step forward. "So? Just how is the timeline going out whack?"

Pink chuckled. Summer suppressed a shiver, there was nothing warm about that laugh. "Well, for one thing," she said gesturing outwards. Summer wasn't sure if she was indicating the garage, the city or the entire world. "This? Shouldn't be happening. There is no way that this mess leads to our future."

Scott took another step forward, glaring at her. "And yet you're here, talking to us," he said.

Pink glared, Summer could feel it even through the helmet, the strength of her glare made Scott take that step back. "Yeah. That's the beauty of a paradox, kid. The fact that you've ruined the future? We're here to fix that."

*

Peter pulled into the parking lot of Senator Marks' office and Alex suppressed a comment about how the car was slightly off centre. When he glanced over, he noticed Peter smirking at him. Alex gave him a dirty look. "You did that on purpose," he accused.

Peter's smirk brightened into a full on grin. "Who, me?"

Alex snorted and got out of the car. He made his way into the building, holding the door for Peter. "How do you want to play this?" he asked.

Shrugging, Peter said, "By ear? As far as we know, she just gave her intro card to someone who wanted to set her up."

"Yeah, okay." Alex nodded and headed for the receptionist. They really didn't have much more than suspicions at this point. He waited for the receptionist to look up and flashed his badge. "I'm Officer Drake and this is Officer Walker. We'd like a word with Senator Marks, please." He tried a reassuring smile, but from the look she gave him, it wasn't going over well. He dropped it.

"One moment, please," said the receptionist, before she got up and walked through a door behind her.

Peter patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. "This is why I get to be the good cop all the time," he said.

Alex rolled his eyes.

Leaning on Alex's shoulder, Peter bent closer with a bright grin and held up the car keys. "I'll let you drive back to the station?" he said, in the same voice he used when giving candy to crying kids.

Laughing slightly, Alex shrugged him off. The door opened before he could say anything and the receptionist stepped out. She nodded stiffly to them. "If you'll come with me, officers, the Senator will see you now."

She led them into the main building, past a large number of offices and cubicles, before motioning them into a large, well lit office. Senator Marks was sitting at the desk, standing behind her was a young Asian woman with a data pad in her hands.

The Senator stood up with a smile and held out her hand.

Alex reached out to take it. "Hello, Senator. I'm Officer Drake, and this is my partner, Officer Walker," he said as he shook her hand and then stepped to the side to let Peter shake it as well.

"Hello Officers," she said. She gestured to the woman behind her. "This is my assistant Fran Oto." She nodded to the two chairs in front of her desk and smiled. "Shall we sit? Can I offer either of you something to drink?"

"No, thank you," said Peter as they all sat down. "We just have a few questions to ask you in relation to an investigation of ours."

Senator Marks raised an eyebrow. She opened her mouth, but Fran leaned forward and said urgently, "I hope you gentlemen have all the proper warrants in place before you start accu-"

"Fran," cut in Senator Marks calmly. "Why don't we hear what this is all about first?"

Fran snapped upright and nodded stiffly. "Of course, Senator. My apologies."

Alex glanced at Peter out of the corner of his eye; the assistant was rather confrontational. He took the intro card out of his pocket and held it out to the Senator. "This is one of your intro cards, correct?" He flicked the activation button.

The Senator took it from his hands and watched the little holo version of her go through its dialogue. When it faded, she flipped it over, examining the back of it. Finally, she nodded and handed it back to Alex. "It is, but we hand these out to any mutant we get the chance to."

Alex bit down a curse. He'd been afraid of that. He glanced at Peter, who pressed his lips together in disappointment for a second before turning back to the Senator. "Senator, the case we're investigating deals some pretty high level thefts; including time travel equipment. Have you noticed any suspicious activities regarding the mutants you work with?"

Senator Marks leaned back in her chair and gave them an assessing look. "As in a new Ransik?"

"Or someone taking advantage of weaker mutants with specialized powers," said Alex. The Senator's shoulders relaxed slightly at his words, but Alex noticed Fran tensing up slightly.

"They don't always come to me with such information," said the Senator. "A few of our more... nomadic regulars haven't been around in a while, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're connected to this."

"Of course not," said Peter, leaning forward with a sympathetic smile. "But they could be in trouble."

"I suppose I could get you a partial list. Not every mutant I deal with trusts Time Force completely," she said.

Alex nodded. "Understood. Thank you for your time, Senator." He stood up and held out his hand.

She shook his hand and then Peter's. "I'll have Fran send over the list by the end of the day."

With that, Alex and Peter were back out into the main office. They didn't say a word until they got back into the car. Alex waited until Peter was back on the road, then he spoke up. "The assistant had some tells."

Peter nodded, "The Senator could just be a stronger bluffer. But…"

"But?"

"It doesn't feel on to me. It could be a set up."

"With the assistant that jumpy, Oto could be either in on it or they both know someone's out to get them and she's being paranoid," Alex said, drumming his fingers on his thigh.

"It's not paranoid if they're really out to get you," Peter pointed out.

Alex sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I know, I know." He pulled out the intro card, turning it over in his hands. "Let's head back to the station. I want to go over the stuff from the crime scenes again."

"Your special back-up might have had a chance to check in," Peter added, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"No," said Alex, checking the time. "We're still on radio silence."

*

Eric paused after they cleared the next dune, both to catch his breath and to check Wes' pupils. Wes gave him an indulgent smile and put up with Eric's fussing. A pair of shadows stretched up beside them and Eric turned to see Gem and Gemma, and who the hell names their kids like that, jogging back towards them.

"What's wrong?" asked Gem with a puzzled grin.

"You can't be tired already," Gemma said. "We're not-"

"-Even halfway there!"

"Actually," said Wes, shrugging out of his backpack. "This is about where we should be starting our scans."

"Scans?" said Gemma, coming over to peer into the weapons' case.

"What for?" Gem said.

Eric shrugged out of his backpack as well. Since they were stopping, they should eat something. He took out a couple of power bars, unwrapping one and holding it out for Wes to take a bite out of as he set up the scanner. Wes pressed a couple of keys and the machine's holoscreen flickered to life.

"Oh, pretty," said Gemma, poking at it and making the holo interface flicker for a second.

Gem bent over Gemma's shoulder, eyeing the screen curiously. "Can you use it to blow stuff up?"

Wes eyed the scanner speculatively while Eric snorted. "I don't think so," said Wes finally. "Trip would have warned me about that."

The scanner started its initial rotation scans and Eric dug out the water bottles before sitting down at Wes' back. Gem plopped down in front of him with a bright grin, while Gemma settled down beside Wes.

"So, if you're both Rangers-" started Gemma, pointing at Wes.

"-Where's the rest of your team?" finished Gem, pointing at Eric.

"We're meeting up with them at Corinth City," said Wes. "They had to take a different route to get to your time."

Gem and Gemma traded a look, but before they could say anything, the scanner started bleeping urgently. Eric turned around to get a better look. There was a mass of red off to the left of the scanner's map. He looked up to orientate himself and pointed in the direction the red would be coming from. "That way is Corinth City, right?" He asked, pointing in the direction Gem and Gemma had been leading them in.

Gem nodded.

"Ok, so we have a large number of unfriendlies coming this way," Eric said, standing up.

Gem and Gemma lit up and leapt to their feet. "Awesome!" cheered Gemma as she pulled out her morpher. "Grinders-"

"-Make an awesome boom if you-" Gem had his morpher out too.

"-Hit them right!"

As one, they shouted, "RPM, Get in Gear!" Eric quickly shaded his eyes before the morph and the suits blinded him. With a loud series of whoops, the two of them charged off towards the incoming attack.

Eric sighed and helped Wes to his feet. "It's like someone took all of Wild Force, even Shayla, stuck 'em in a blender and came out with those two," he said, crossing his arms in annoyance.

Wes laughed. "Come on, we'd better help them."

"Time for Time Force!"

"Quantum Power!"

Eric eyed the backpacks, then glanced around. "You can track back to the packs, right?"

"Yeah," said Wes with a nod. 

Up ahead, there was a loud clang of metal, a whoop and a large fireball spat into the sky. Eric snorted and took off running towards the chaos, Wes right behind him. Once he cleared the dune, he took in the scene as he did a controlled slide down towards the fight. The unfriendlies were a mix of Cyclobots and the minions the info packet called Grinders. Gem and Gemma were in the centre of the fight, holding their own and letting out whoops of glee from time to time.

"Left!" he barked at Wes, then kicked an unsuspecting Cyclobot in the back. He grabbed the arm of a Grinder and jerked it left, right into Wes' punch. Wes rolled with the momentum, stopping when he was back to back with Eric. They pulled their blasters in unison, just as several minions finally noticed them. Eric grinned and shot three of them, ducking a shot from a fourth and shot a fifth one that was about to get the drop on Gem.

"Hey!" said Gemma brightly, giving them an enthusiastic wave. "You guys-"

"-Made it!" Gem said, elbowing a Grinder in the face. "Isn't this-"

"-Fun?"

Wes laughed at he flipped a Cyclobot over his back and kicked it head first into a sand dune. Gemma leapt, sailing over their heads and slashing her dagger rapidly at three Cyclobots. They exploded as she landed. Eric kicked another Grinder in the chest, knocking it into Gem's path. Gem slashed it with his own dagger and it blew up.

"That's it?" said Wes curiously.

Eric glanced around in surprise. "That was too easy," he said, holstering his Quantum Defender.

Gem and Gemma shared a nod. Eric turned around to grab their bags. "Think anyone picked up our arrival?" asked Wes as he followed Eric.

"It's possible, but Jen said we'd be cloaked," said Eric as he picked up Wes' pack and handed it to him. "They could have just been looking for the Wonder Twins over there." He nodded at Gem and Gemma, who were standing at the top of the dune.

"Think we can risk staying morphed?" Wes asked as he opened up the weapons case.

Eric started packing up the scanner while he thought about it. "I think we're close enough that it's not going to matter at this point. And if the other two stay morphed, it might help confuse things." He put the last bit of the scanner into the case, then stood up to shrug his own pack on.

"Okay, morphed it is," said Wes, slipping his own pack on. He turned and gave a wave to Gem and Gemma to catch their attention.

The rest of the walk to Corinth City was pretty uneventful, but that made Eric tenser the closer they got to city. They were nearing the walls when a large explosion had them diving for cover. Wes peered cautiously over the top of the dune the four of them were hiding behind. "I can make out two bigger robots and a bunch of Grinders and Cyclobots," he whispered.

A second explosion tore through the air and Wes ducked back down. Eric was about to chance another peek when yet another explosion went off. Followed by three more in quick succession. The last one exploded right beside their dune and Eric swore, drawing the Quantum Defender. There was a mechanical cheer from the robots and the sound of thundering feet.

"Uh oh," whispered Gemma, drawing her dagger and pointing it at the smoke clearing from the explosion right beside them. Four figures were emerging from the dust.

"Wait," said Wes, holding up his hand as Eric began to make out colours. Pink, Yellow, Green and Blue. "That would be our back up."

Eric grinned. "Now we can get down to business."

*

"I still say we hide Dr. K in her closet," said Ziggy as he eyed the door to the garage again.

Dr K sighed, "And once again, Ranger Green, I bring up the fact that we don't know the actual event that caused the time stream to shift off course. We don't have all the factors and rampant paranoia isn't going to help."

Summer crossed her arms and gave Scott a worried look. "They do seem to want to help, even if they are rather... abrupt." She had to fight from giving Dillon a significant look.

Scott snickered. He opened his mouth but the blaring alarm cut him off. Dr K raced over to her station and started typing. "There's a shield breach Sector Nine, Grinders and what looks like two Attackbots."

"Two of them?" said Flynn, sharing a worried look with Ziggy.

"Affirmative," said Dr K, looking up. "Power levels are looking to be similar to the previous Attackbot."

"I guess we're trusting the new guys whether we like it or not," said Dillon, clasping Ziggy on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Let's go," said Scott, jogging towards the garage.

Pink looked up as they came into the room. "Let me guess, more trouble?"

"Two Attackbots," said Scott, not pausing in his jog to his car.

Summer moved for her helmet, but was pulled up short by Ziggy's hand on her arm. She looked him in confusion. "Keep me and Dillon between your bike and theirs," he whispered. She huffed in exasperation. "Look, just. Please?"

"All right, I promise," she conceded.

Halfway to the invasion site, Pink sped up and pulled alongside Scott's car. Summer watched her wave to get his attention. From Pink's movements, they seemed to be having a discussion. Then Pink nodded emphatically, waved a fist in the air and peeled off down one of the side streets, the rest of her team right behind her.

Summer's helmet comm crackled. "The Time Rangers are going to circle around and come at the Attackbots from behind. We go from the front."

"Copy that, Red," said Summer, followed by the rest of the guys chiming in their affirmatives.

Sector Nine was in chaos, Grinders every where and one attack bot simply standing on top of an abandoned car. It looked very humanoid, like an old Spanish swashbuckler, it even had a rapier. The face was a white, grinning mask.

Summer swung her leg off her bike and kicked back a charging Grinder. Scott slid out of his car and held up his morpher. "Ready?"

"Ready!" chimed the rest of the team.

"RPM! Get in gear!"

The attackbot laughed and flung a bolt of energy at them. Summer rolled to the left and swept out the legs of two charging Grinders. She jumped up and kicked a third one in the chest; Flynn charged two more coming at her, driving them off to the side.

"Not that I'm complaining, because I really don't like getting hit," said Ziggy as he kicked a Grinder in the chest. "But is anyone else worried that we're missing an attackbot?"

Summer caught Flynn as he came flying at her. "The Time Rangers are probably handling it," she said.

"Look out!" cried Scott.

Summer glanced up to see the attackbot charging at her. She blocked its sword swing with her arm and kicked its knee. It didn't budge. Flynn jumped onto its back, wrapping his arms around its neck. The attackbot chittered before shrugging Flynn off easily and then kicking Summer hard and sending her flying.

She crashed painfully into a pile of crates. Summer took a second to breath, then climbed to her feet. She drew her Nitro Blaster and loaded the power cell. Glancing around quickly to take in the scene, she levelled her blaster. Scott was going head to head with the attackbot, matching his Nitro Sword to its rapier. Summer quickly blasted three Grinders coming up behind him.

"Summer!" shouted Dillon in warning.

Summer ducked and rolled, blaster fire striking where she'd just been. She came up beside Ziggy, spinning to they were back to back. "Well, this is as fun as usual," said Ziggy as he kicked a Grinder.

Shooting two Grinders in the face, Summer shrugged a shoulder. "Always," she said. Scott and Flynn flew past, crashing into the same crates that had broken Summer's fall. She winced in sympathy and spun in a tight circle with Ziggy.

Dillon was fighting furiously with Tenaya 7, she and Ziggy were surrounded by what was left of the Grinders and the Time Rangers were standing beside the attackbot casually. She did a double-take. "Uh, guys?" she said in confusion.

"What are you doing?" asked Flynn incredulously.

Pink snorted and levelled her blasted at him. "Making a better world," she said and fired.

Summer cried out as Flynn crashed into the crates again. She fired her blaster at Pink without even thinking. Pink staggered back a step, then snapped her fingers. The other three levelled their blasters at her and Ziggy. "Ziggy?" she said softly. "Move."

Ziggy swore as they both dove out of the way, Grinders sparking and exploding above them from the blaster fire. Dillon cried out in pain and Tenaya 7 yelped. Summer glanced over quickly to see Dillon on the ground with his suit sparking a bit and Tenaya 7 sitting up with a snarl on her face.

"Learn how to aim," Tenaya 7 snapped.

Pink snapped her fingers again. "Black, Yellow. Go take care of the Rangers' mentor; we'll finish up here."

"No!" shouted Scott. "Street Saber!" He charged at the Time Rangers and the attackbot, slashing Pink's blaster out of her hand.

Green slammed into him, and held out his blaster. "Gravity Axe!" he called. The blaster folded out into an axe and he lifted it to strike.

"Zip Charger!" Summer called, charging it up and shooting it at him.

Black and Yellow leapt over Green and Scott and started running. "Turbo Cannon!" called Flynn, firing after them.

Scott struggled to his feet, slipping into an attack stance. "Ziggy, Dillon, get to Dr. K! We'll hold things down here!"

"Right," muttered Ziggy. He scrambled over to Dillon, tripping Tenaya 7 as he went, grabbed Dillon's hand and hit his teleport button. Summer released a breath as she watched them vanish, then readied her Zip Charger again.

"And we're down to three," sneered Pink. Summer launched the Zip Charger at her. "Neutron Bow!" Pink's blaster folded out into a crossbow and she shot the Zip Charger right back at Summer, knocking her down hard.

"Fusion blades," said Yellow, pulling her blaster into two sais and charging Scott, who barely managed to block in time.

The attackbot chittered and started slashing at Flynn. Pink laughed and leapt towards Summer. "Guess what happens now, little Ranger?" she jeered as she pointed her crossbow at Summer.

"You get arrested!" called a new voice. Two pink blasts, one right after another, hit Pink on the backs of her legs, knocking her upwards as another blast hits her square in the back and throwing her into the building behind Summer. "Time Force. Surrender now."

Summer turns around to see another Pink Ranger calmly walking into the area, holding a large rifle blaster. Four other Rangers bring up the rear. The Blue and Green Rangers have the same style suit, both wielding giant blaster rifles. The Gold and Silver Rangers... Summer blinks in surprise. "Gem! Gemma! You're all right!"

"Yeah!" agreed Gemma. "One attackbot down-"

"And one to go!" Gem finished, bouncing on his toes.

Summer noticed Pink staggering up and pulling out a small box. It chirped as she punched a few buttons. "Hey!" Summer called, levelling her blaster at Pink.

"Let's get busy," said Scott, nodding to the new Pink Ranger.

She nodded back and levelled her blaster rifle at Green. "Hands up, all of you," she said.

*

Alex sighed and rubbed his eyes. He dropped his data pad back down onto the desk and looked over at Peter. "I hate dead ends," he grumbled.

Peter gave him a sympathetic smile. "Jen's team hasn't checked in either."

"They're on radio silence," Alex reminded him.

"Only until they catch the fugitives," Peter shot back. "Which would have been awesome, because then they could send back interrogation results and we'd have our inside man."

Sighing again, Alex stood up. "Let's check out the crime scene again, maybe a clue will magically turn up."

"Wasn't there a team of Rangers like that?" asked Peter as he followed Alex down the hall. At Alex's confused look, he grinned and waggled his fingers. "Magic Rangers?"

Alex blinked, mentally counting through all the teams he'd read about in history class. "I think so?" he said as he keyed open the door to the science labs. "I think they had a cat theme?"

Peter laughed, leaning on the wall by the morpher lab. "Please tell me they had pointy helmets too."

Snorting, Alex pulled out his badge so he could scan into the lab. It slipped out of his hand, bounced off his shoe and skittered off down the hallway. Peter laughed again, at him this time, and Alex made a rude hand gesture at him that he'd picked up from a Triforian. It only made Peter laugh harder.

Alex bent down to pick up his badge and casually glanced at the door. There were scorch marks around the keypad. He froze. "Walker? What's in this lab?"

Peter came up behind him, tapping at his data pad. "Robotic systems storage." The data pad chirped and Peter paused for a second, reading the info. "Lot of stuff collected from the pre-Venjix era."

"Anything prone to blowing up?" Alex pulled up the entry log on the door.

"Mostly just blueprints," said Peter, shaking his head.

Alex glanced at Peter, holding his badge up. "I think I'm having a hunch," he said.

Peter smirked. "Well, it's not like we're drowning in leads here, Drake. Open her up."

Scanning his badge in, Alex keyed the door open. It slid aside jerkily, like it wasn't quite on its track. He stepped in cautiously, a hand hovering over his blaster. The room itself looked empty, bland and grey from the regulation lighting. There were shelves from floor to ceiling, full of jewel cases.

"Do you hear that beeping?" asked Peter softly as he entered behind Alex.

Alex nodded and glanced around the room. The beeping sounded like it was coming from one of the shelves on the right. He walked over, scanning the shelves. One of the jewel cases on the Twenty-First Century shelf was missing. The little data pad on the front of the hole was beeping. Alex pressed it and a holo-display popped up.

"Human-like Android chassis, creator: Andrew Hartford, 2005-2007," read Peter, leaning over Alex's shoulder. He signed and clapped Alex on the shoulder. "You should have hunches more often."

Alex flicked the data pad again, checking the dates of removal on it. "And this date matches when the morphers were stolen."

"So maybe we're not looking for a man on the inside," said Peter. "Maybe we're looking for a computer program."

"Trip did track them to the Venjix era," Alex said, turning off the beep on the data pad. "Maybe Venjix found a way around the Time Force firewalls?"

"Which doesn't explain how he suddenly gets time travel knowledge," Peter added with a sigh. "Or is this one of those fun paradoxes you're always whining about."

Alex rolled his eyes. "I don't whine-" His comm chirped and Alex blinked at it in surprise. "Drake," he said, tapping it active.

"Alex!" said Circuit, sounding relieved. "We've got a communication coming up on the grid from the Venjix era."

"Does Jen have the mutants captured?" he asked.

"Actually, it's not from Jen or even Wes. It's an unknown and it's not coming to us directly."

Peter leaned in. "Can you track where it's going to?"

"Yup. I'm sending the coordinates now." Alex's comm chirped and displayed the new data.

Alex nodded at Peter and they exited the file room, heading for the squad car. "Thanks, Circuit."

"Senator Marks, here we come," muttered Peter, smiling grimly.

Alex shook his head as they exited the building. "I still don't like her for it. It's too easy."

"Okay," said Peter. "Let me know if you get any other hunches?"

Alex nodded, pulling out his keys. The few minutes it took to get to the Senator's office were quiet. Alex kept running over the details of the case in his mind. Four mutants, four morphers that weren't public knowledge, the android blueprints… "Think it could be someone replacing Senator Marks with a duplicate?" he asked as they neared the building.

"Possible," allowed Peter. "We still need a someone though."

Someone ran in front of the car and Alex slammed on the brakes, jerking the car's wheel frantically as the wheels squealed on the road. There was a loud thump of the back of the car hitting something. The car shuddered to a stop inches from the wall of a building. Alex turned in his seat, trying to get a look at the pedestrian.

"Okay," Peter said shakily, glancing up at the car's roof. "Not what I meant."

Alex spotted the body lying on the road and swore, struggling out of his seat belt. He popped open the door and ran for the body, a woman's body based on the clothing and shape, pulling out his comm. "Hey!" he said, bending down. "Are you okay?" It took him a second to place the woman's face. Senator Marks' assistant. "Ms. Oto?" He gripped her shoulder, taking in the lack of blood around the scene. He reached for her wrist to check her pulse. "Can you hea-" His fingers felt metal instead of flesh.

Oto's eyes shot open, flashing red. She tore her arm out of his grip and shoved him in the chest, sending him flying. "Gotcha," said Peter, grabbing his shoulders and easing Alex down.

"Fools," Oto spat as she got up. "Everything was going perfectly according to plan until you blasted Rangers had to get involved."

"Who are you?" asked Alex, pulling his blaster and levelling it at her. Peter muttered softly into his comm, calling for backup.

Oto brushed at her skirt angrily and grinned manically at them. "I suppose it doesn't matter now, the two of you can't stop me. I am what's left of the great Dr. Fericks and with the help of the wonderful robotic intelligence Venjix, we are going to get rid of the troublesome creatures you call humans and mutants. We will make this a glorious world of machines."

"Wasn't Dr. Fericks the one in Frax's body?" Peter whispered to Alex.

Dr. Fericks snorted derisively. "A copy in an inferior mechanical body. A corrupted copy at that."

"Right," said Peter drily. "He was the corrupted version." Dr. Fericks spluttered.

Alex's comm chirped, two low tones, two higher tones, one higher still, then two lower tones. Alex suppressed a grin at the signal and glanced at Peter out of the corner of his eye. Peter nodded slightly. "Walker's right," said Alex loudly. "At least Frax was able to make a serious impact before the Rangers stopped him. You haven't even managed direct contact with the Venjix virus."

Dr. Fericks let out a scream of fury, eyes flaring bright red. "How dare you-"

A loud roar shook the street. Alex and Peter dove behind the squad car as the ground trembled with repeating, crashing footprints. The Q-Rex roared again as it spotted Dr. Fericks, then bent to aim its cannons. Dr. Fericks managed to point one hand at the Zord before the blast hit and he shrunk down.

"You know," said Peter as he slowly stood up. "Wes is right, it is kind of overkill."

Alex shrugged. "All the morphers are in the past right now. And Circuit can't drive the Time Jet or the TF Eagle. We have no idea what changes Fericks might have made to the body."

"Yeah," Peter said, nodding. "But you're still doing the paperwork for this part."

Alex groaned. "You don't get to drive back," he said.

*

Eric jumped off the Time Jet and crept up to the edge of the roof. Katie and Wes came up behind him, waiting while his helmet ran a scan on the area. "Nothing yet," he said, glancing back at them. Wes was giving him a look from behind his helmet. Eric rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, I admit it. The TF Eagle wouldn't have been ideal for this. Stop giving me that look."

Katie snickered into her glove.

Wes chuckled. "Yes, dear."

"And you're still stuck with the hat," Eric said, crossing his arms and glaring.

"Oh come on," said Wes, throwing his hands into the air. "You had the red hat first!"

His scanner beeped and Eric held up a hand. The other two tensed and slowly eased towards the edge of the roof so they could see too. "Here we go," Eric whispered.

Two Rangers, Yellow and Green, were running towards the garage, followed by a girl in a purple suit and black visor. Green was twirling an axe and Yellow was gripping two blades. Eric spared a moment to just take in their uniforms. They were similar to his, right down to how they copied the Time Force designs of the same colour. He looked to Katie and nodded. She nodded back and started making her way down, going around to flank the newcomers from behind.

Eric drew his Defender; Wes whispered a quick "Chrono Sabers," and gripping the sabers, he gave Eric a nod.

There was a flash of light below and two RPM Rangers appeared out of nowhere. Eric grunted softly in surprise. He'd forgotten that one of them could teleport. The girl with the visor lifted a hand and fired a laser blast at the two Rangers. The Black one jumped in front and an energy shield materialized, blocking the blast.

Deciding to take that as his cue, Eric lifted his Defender and started tapping it against the back of his hand; he kept it slow and steady so the sound had time to echo ominously. The five people on the ground all startled and started looking around in confusion. Eric smirked when they spotted him. He pointed the Defender and fired off several rounds at their feet before jumping off the roof, Wes right behind him.

Yellow was charging them as Eric landed and he quickly shot her in the centre mass, knocking her back. "Time Force," he stated. "Your asses are under arrest."

Green let out a snarl and charged forward. The purple girl tried to follow, but RPM Black slammed into her side, knocking her down. Eric fired off a couple of blasts around Green to make him flinch and charged forward himself, still firing. Green raised his axe for a swing, but Eric kept moving. At the last second, he dropped and slid to the side.

There was a clang as Wes caught the axe with his crossed sabers and Green let out a yelp of surprise. Eric grinned as he leapt to his feet. That trick never got old. Yellow let out a battle cry and leapt at him. "Sword mode!" called Eric, bringing his Defender blade up to block her twin blades.

The purple girl let out a cry of rage. "Grinders!" she snapped. About twenty foot soldiers came running into the area.

"Aw, come on Tenaya!" whined RPM Green. "Can't you just take defeat nicely for a change?" He held his hand out in front of him and called, "Turbo Axe!" He ran for Eric and Yellow and smashed his axe into one of her blades. "Hi," he said to Eric. "Name's Ziggy."

Eric spared a moment to wonder who the hell would name their child that, blocked a kick from Yellow and grunted when a laser blast hit his shoulder. "Eric," he said. He whirled and kicked the Grinder sneaking up on him.

"Just out of curiosity," said Ziggy, ducking a slash from Yellow. "You're not going to suddenly turn evil on us too, right?"

"Well," Eric said drily. "It's not in the plan."

"Good, good," said Ziggy. Yellow suddenly flipped her blades and fired two blasts from the handles, knocking Eric and Ziggy down.

Eric flipped to his feet, slashing at Yellow's head. She ducked and danced back, bringing her blades up. Eric rolled to the side when he heard Wes swear. Green charged past, staggering as his axe failed to connect with Eric's back.

"That was not sportsmanlike at all!" protested Ziggy. He took a swing at Green with his own axe then spun and ran for RPM Black as Green followed. "Dillon! Little help!"

Yellow snorted and raised her blades against. Eric glared at her and turned his head slightly. He could hear Wes' panting behind him, along with the chittering of the Grinders. He took a few steps to the left and smirked when Yellow charged. "Wes!" he called, tossing his Defender behind him. Yellow faltered for the half second it took Eric to snatch the Chrono Sabers out of the air and slash them at her.

"Blaster mode!" called Wes and the sound of blaster fire and exploding machines filled the air. Eric and Yellow started trading lightning fast blows. Eric took advantage of the extra reach to slash every kick she levelled at him. She ducked a blow and dove in for a double slash at his chest. Eric grunted in pain, but spun around, slashing the sabers across her back and knocking her down.

There was a crackle of energy and Yellow de-morphed, revealing a young caucasian blonde. She flopped onto her back, panting. Eric pointed a Saber at her morpher. She sneered at him. "Yes, sir," she said sarcastically. Pressing a button on the morpher, she said, "voice lock disengage." The morpher chirped in acknowledgement and she took it off. Wes took it out of her hand and helped her to her feet.

Suddenly, she wrenched her arm out of his grip and took off running, fading and blending into the surroundings. Tenaya made a sound of disgust and bolted too, firing a few shots behind her to make them duck. Eric swore and tapped his scanner active. "Look out!" shouted Dillon. Eric brought up a Saber just in time to block Green's blow.

Green snarled and kicked out, getting Eric in the chest. Eric staggered back and Green raised his axe for another blow. Eric spotted a flash of yellow behind Green and smirked, standing up with his arms at his sides. Green snorted and moved to slash Eric, but the axe didn't move. He turned in confusion and Katie gave him a little wave with her free hand. Then she tightened her grip on the axe and used it to slam Green into a wall. When he didn't let go of the axe, she slammed him into the ground. Green grunted, still clinging to the axe. Katie slammed him into the wall again and he dropped the axe, flopping onto the ground with a groan. There was a crackle of energy as he de-morphed.

"Hey Dillon, I think we found you a new friend," said Ziggy.

*

Summer rolled under a swipe from Blue's staff and fired at him from the ground, driving him back. There was a large explosion to her left and she couldn't help smiling when she heard Gem and Gemma cheering excitedly. She heard a scream of rage and spun, only to get a kick to the face from Tenaya 7. "I am so sick of you Rangers ruining my day," she snarled.

"Likewise," snapped Summer, blocking a blow from Blue's staff. She saw Tenaya move out of the corner of her eye and dove away from both of them, rolling to her feet and spinning around, holstering her blaster. "Energy Blast!" she shouted, knocking both of them down.

"More Grinders incoming!" called Scott.

Summer took a half second to catch her breath and drew her blaster again. "Nitro Sword!" Something kicked her in the stomach hard and she staggered back with a grunt. A grinning blonde girl flickered into view.

"Freeze Strike Mode!" shouted a male voice. The blonde girl snarled and spun, just as a glowing blue sword slashed through her multiple times. There was an explosion and something small hit the ground. Summer blinked in surprise at the new Ranger. He looked like the Time Rangers, but Red.

"Thanks?" she offered.

"Eric!" called a second Red Ranger. This one looked like he was part of the second Pink's team. He was using two blades to fend off blows from Blue. Eric huffed and charged Tenaya, knocking her back from where she was coming up on the other Red.

"Time Manipulation Burst!" shouted Flynn and disappeared in a blur.

"Time Spin!" called the new Green and he too blurred.

In the time it took Summer to lift up her Nitro Sword, all the remaining Grinders exploded as Flynn and the new Green reappeared on the other side. A bolt of pink energy slammed into Summer's shoulder and she cried out as she spun around. She smashed her sword into Pink's crossbow and staggered back. The other Pink was suddenly there, slashing her own sword at Pink.

"Jen!" called Eric as he flipped Tenaya over his shoulder. Other Pink glanced over at him. "We've got two frozen."

Jen nodded. "Good job! The Attackbot's down."

Pink snarled, ducking close and shooting Jen point blank in the chest. "Don't count us out just yet, Ranger," she snapped.

Summer slashed her across the chest with her sword. "Ditto."

"Freeze Strike Mode!" shouted Eric. Summer spun in time to see a dark haired guy, who was most likely Blue, going down in a small explosion.

Pink snarled again. She tapped a button on the morpher and de-morphed in a flash of light, revealing a pretty Black girl with pink streaks in her hair. She pressed a different button and Summer tensed. "Unlock voice mode!" The morpher chirped and she yanked it off, throwing it at Jen. "I'll show you the power of mutants." Electricity crackled over her fingers and she flung out a wave of it.

Summer yelled in pain, crumpling to the ground. A new Yellow Ranger staggered to her feet and charged Pink, but Pink blasted her with a ball of electricity. "Katie!" cried the other Green.

Rolling onto her front, Summer took a shaky breath. She caught Gem's attention and nodded slowly, once. He nodded back. "Zip Charger," she whispered. Gem jumped up with a yell and when Pink spun to face him, Summer released the Zip Charger at her, knocking her off her feet.

"Freeze Strike Mode," shouted Eric, charging her.

Pink blasted him, knocking him back and sending his weapon flying. Dillon shot to his feet and snatched it out of mid-air. "Ziggy!" he called, grabbing Ziggy's shoulder. Ziggy slapped his morpher and they vanished right as the ball of electricity would have hit them. They appeared right behind Pink and Dillon slashed her with Eric's weapon. Pink let out a frustrated cry and vanished in a small explosion.

"Is it over?" asked Flynn cautiously.

"Yeah," said the other Blue.

Jen heaved a sigh of relief and struggled to her feet, offering Summer a hand. "We still need to contact headquarters. Thank you for you help, Rangers." She nodded at the rest of her team. "Power down." The rest of her team echoed her. She smiled at Summer and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Captain Jen Scotts, Time Force Pink Ranger."

"Uh," said Ziggy nervously. "Just to double check, you're really not going to turn evil on us now, right?"

The Time Force Rangers laughed.

*

Alex watched Captain Logan settling the Time Ranger morphers on the table and tried not to fidget in his seat. He didn't doubt for a second that Wes and Eric would go for their proposal, but it was scary to contemplate all the same. The door slid open and both Alex and Captain Logan looked up as the Time Force team entered the room.

Katie gave him a slight smile and Alex found himself returning it.

Captain Logan gave them a nod. "Rangers," he said by way of greeting. The six of them saluted, though Wes and Eric used their standard Guardian salute. Logan gestured to the seats around the table. "Please have a seat."

"You said you had a potential assignment for us, sir?" said Jen as she sat down.

Nodding, Captain Logan said, "I trust you all read the report on the fugitives' time travel site?"

"Multiple uses," said Eric, leaning back in his chair. "And only partial time trails." He gave a little shrug, like he understood the idea of time trails, but didn't really care about the science behind it all.

"Exactly," said Captain Logan. "We've also got reports coming in of time trails coming from our current time, but with different origin points."

Trip sat up in alarm. "More than one point?" he asked worriedly. "But, there shouldn't be more than one or two time engines in existence."

"We think either Frax or another technologically smart mutant was able to either backwards engineer one or acquire blueprints."

"So what's the plan?" asked Wes, sharing a cautious glance with Eric.

"The plan is two-pronged," said Captain Logan. "We'll have two active teams of Rangers. One to travel the time line in search of fugitives and one here to track down the time travel engines at their source."

"But the Time Flyers won't be good for multiple jumps," said Jen, glancing at Trip for confirmation. Trip grimaced and nodded.

"The time ship won't be much better," said Lucas. "It's never been tested for multiple flights."

"You're right," said Alex. "But the Q-Rex could handle it. As well as the other Zords of the Time Ranger line."

"But they stopped work on them and the morphers when we lost the Q-Rex..." Trip paused and gave Captain Logan a considering look. "You've started working on them again?"

"Final testing on the morphers themselves is complete. We're in beta test with the Zords," said Captain Logan. "All we need is a team."

"You only need four more Rangers," said Eric. Alex swallowed a smile at the determined look Eric was giving Captain Logan.

"But the DNA locks on the Chrono Morphers can't be reset," said Trip.

Alex caught Wes giving him a considering look. He offered a small smile in return. "You want me to give back the Red Time Force Morpher and take one of the Time Ranger morphers," said Wes.

Katie gasped in surprise, Lucas raised his eyebrows and Trip started in his seat. Jen just shared a long look with Wes before nodding. "It makes sense," she said slowly. "We know this time better than you or Eric. And I think we can work with Alex now." She paused to give Alex an assessing look. Alex nodded at her; he knew now that just trying to take complete control of the team wouldn't work. "Wes'- The Red morpher is the only one we can move around like this."

Captain Logan smiled at her proudly. "That was our initial plan, yes." He gestured between Wes and Eric. "Now it's simply a matter of deciding which of you should wield the Quantum morpher."

"Eric," said Wes immediately. He gave Eric a quick bright grin and glanced at the top of Eric's head. Eric snorted, rolling his eyes, and nodded at Captain Logan. "I'll take Pink." Wes tugged his Chrono morpher free and handed it over to Alex before picking up the Neutron morpher.

Captain Logan blinked at Alex in surprise. Alex smiled softly, strapping his morpher back on. He'd have to talk to Logan later about missing that Pink and Red tended to be co-leaders.

"That still leaves us three Rangers short," said Eric. He paused when Wes pulled something red out of his pocket and handed it over. Eric gave a long-suffering sigh and pocketed whatever it was, pointedly ignoring Wes' grin.

"Well, we do have some recruits for you," said Captain Logan, tapping a button on his comm pad. The door slid open and Alex watched as the Time Force Rangers lit up upon seeing Dillon, Summer and a third girl enter the room. "Summer Landsdown, Dillon and his sister Tenaya - no last name given," Captain Logan read off his file.

Eric crossed his arms and looked at Tenaya curiously. "Why do you look familiar?"

She gave them a slightly sheepish smile. "When we met, I was still sort of evil and trying to kill all of you?"

"The robot girl," Eric replied, his face clearing. He picked up the Plasma morpher and tossed it to her. He nodded at Dillon. "And you were muscle."

Dillon nodded and took the Fusion morpher when Eric gave it to him.

"Welcome to the team," said Wes with smile as he handed Summer the Gravity morpher.

An alarm sounded through the station. Alex glanced up at the flashing lights before sharing a smile with Jen. "Well?"

"Let's get to work, Rangers," said Jen, standing up.

End.


End file.
